Hamilton quickest as Monaco GP weekend gets underway

Mercedes were fastest in the first practice session ahead of the Monaco Grand Prix, with Lewis Hamilton claiming top spot, just three hundredths of a second ahead of team-mate Nico Rosberg. Daniel Ricciardo was third for Red Bull Racing.

There was little to separate the Mercedes pair as they traded fastest laps through the session but at the end of the 90 minutes it was Hamilton who took the honours, his lap of 1:18.271 good enough to relegate Rosberg to second spot.

Ricciardo, a two-time winner here in Formula Renault 3.5, in 2010 and 2011, finished just over two tenths adrift of Hamilton’s best time. The Australian’s team-mate Sebastian Vettel, a Monaco winner in 2011, was fifth-fastest, half a second down on Ricciardo.

The Red Bull Racing duo were split by Fernando Alonso. The Ferrari driver, who was four tenths of a second behind Ricciardo, had a nervous moment late in the session when he outbraked himself at the Mirabeau corner and was forced to take an escape road before reversing back onto the circuit.

The corner caught a number of drivers out during the session, with Sauber’s Adrian Sutil hitting the barriers there in the final 15 minutes of the session. Max Chilton had earlier hit the wall in the same spot to bring his session to an early end.

Kimi Räikkönen took sixth in the second Ferrari, ahead of Williams’ driver Valtteri Bottas. Force India saw both cars finish in the top ten, with Sergio Pérez eighth and Nico Hulkenberg tenth. They were separated by McLaren’s Kevin Magnussen.